Wichita eagle., 1887-11-25

ENGLISH PENNY-A-LINERS.
Eow They Exc Out Miserable Exist
ence in London.

Eow They Exc Out Miserable Exist
ence in London.
Although this is the best season Of the
year for the penny-a.Iner, net one Of
the craft the other day, whom I had
known under happier circumstances, on
the verge Of starvation, and from what he
told me of the profession I take it that
''penny- lining" is not really so profit
able a business-in London, anyhoW-as
I poesy.
Penny-a-ining is cne of those profess
| sion, the embarkation upon which does
/ not involve the expenditure of any very
! large amount OF capital-all that is needed
/ for start being a certain number Of
''fiinsies" and blacks with vulcanite
'plate' and an agate ''stylo." Armed
with these, an ability to write more or less
legibly, and a smattering of the queen's
English very little OF the latter being re-
qlIired), the embryo liner may set forth
in quest of worlds-I had almost said
words-to conquer. He must not be dis
appointed at discovering many in the field
before him, nor at his earlier attempts
finding their way into the sub-editors' w.
p. b., which annually receives so many
miles Of what the author regarded as
IllOSl IlIcIESL4llEs COpg- LCuCOu ID
erally overrun with these free lances of
the press, who are, to a large extent, re-
sponsible for the gray hairs and prema-
ture decay Of assistant editors. All is hSh
which comes to the liners net, and there
are few public events which-to vary the
metaphor-do not bring grist to his mill.
Fatal accidents, sensational suicides, hOr-
rible murders, speeches by prominent
loo bn i,,y-a hi " P.ll ll-
them con1agrations-an are material for
the stylo and the film" F"
Great is the liner where inquests are
concerned. In most cases he follows one
particular coroner and listens to case after
case for week after week, in the full and
certain conviction that sooner or later ne
will get the temporary monopoly OF some
thing very startling or horrible. London
is too big a city for the regular staff OF
any paper to properly cover, and ell the
journals of the metropolis are more or
less dependent upon the penny-a-liner,
who occasionally shamefully imposes upon
the sUb-editOr when news is scarce and
money scarcer
Liners may be divided into two classes:
First, those who are regularly engaged upon
the staff of a small suburban paper, and who
cAc Otit I1tS l4lScIdDiS ll)SlitiS -OCdi
London proprietors regard as sufficient by
"fimming' anything of sufficient import
ance for the big dailies which they may
happen to come across in their own dis
trict. These may be regarded as the more
respectable half Of the profession. The
somewhat shadier portion is composed OF
out-at-elbows gentlemen, broken down
hacks men dismissed for drunkenness
from the higher walks of journalism, etc;
men to whom the non-insertiOn Of a
par" means absolute starvation, and it
is small wonder that sub-editors are now
and then ''had." A party of four or five
liners gather together in a bar parlor, and
report tSeir own vaporings over their
pipes and whisky ss ''an important politi-
cal gathering" and quite recently the
dead body of man was several times
found hanging in one of our parks, which
corpse was never discovered by the park
rangers or police. Sunday papers so in
largely for inquests, and it would not do
for too close an inquiry to be made into
some Of the particulars reported as having
taken place yesterday" while the man
ner in which liners try to run" one an
other after something of the kind is not
little diverting. The rule CT most papers
is, first come, first served; but some subs
have their favoriteS, who are the envy Of
their less fortunate brethren.-Cor. Phila-
delphia Telegraph.